Dev Talks Secrets, Dangers, and Cute Elements of the Pixel Art Platformer
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While some think of platformers as antiquated, the genre is as alive and well as ever. The recent release of Super Mario Bros. Wonder is proof of that, but so are the various indie platformers released every year. One upcoming platformer, Genopanic, is the sequel to the over-ten-year-old game Space Expedition. In it, players will return to space, but this time have a mission of collecting mutant lab experiments while avoiding VOLGA, the research station’s strict boss with the help of a friendly AI pup, LAIK.
Genopanic producer Anton Surkov told Game Rant in a recent interview about the connection between Space Expedition and Genopanic, the inspirations behind the newest installment, and what makes half of the game. The following transcript has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Q: For our readers, please tell us a bit about yourself and Genopanic.
Surkov: Hello, my name is Anton Surkov. I am the producer of Genopanic and I will be glad to tell you about our game together with the team.
Genopanic is a pixel platformer with Metroidvania elements where the player explores a huge space station full of secrets and dangers, fights bosses, solves puzzles, and uncovers secrets and mysteries.
We are a small development team within Mobirate Studio. Two of us developed the Space Expedition game 10 years ago and now 7 cool new developers have joined us. We love science fiction and have been working on Genopanic for over 2 years. The team now has a total of 4-pixel art artists, 3 programmers, a game designer, and a sound designer.
We also had a lot of help from the artist who worked on the Blasphemous game. We want to thank him for the cool Final Boss for our project! It turned out really monstrous!
Q: Before getting into Genopanic, players can head back into the past with Space Expedition, which is its prequel. Was there always a plan to create a sequel?
Surkov: Space Expedition was a kind of pen test. Of course, we would have liked to make it bigger and longer. However, we didn’t want to delay the development and decided to see if the players would like it. We left unrealized ideas in a long box, and as soon as we had the opportunity and means to create a new part, we started working on Genopanic. Of course, we had a lot of ideas that were not included in Space Expedition, and Genopanic gave us a chance to realize them. Both stories are independent but complement each other, revealing the world of the game more fully.
Q: Can you explain how the worlds of Space Expedition and Genopanic are connected?
Surkov: Both worlds exist in the same universe where all these strange events take place. We’re trying to make both stories close to each other and raise even more interesting questions for the players, in order to answer them in the last next part. That’s the plan.
Q: Space Expedition has been praised for being a classic atmospheric pixel art platformer. Since Genopanic is coming out a decade later, do you think the aesthetic will resonate as much with players now?
Surkov: We believe that the new aesthetic will definitely appeal to those who played the first installment! We decided to combine the fun and “rubbery” animation with the creepy abandoned chamber rooms that players will be traversing. We keep the atmosphere of the original and then multiply it by two.
Q: Was Space Expedition and Genopanic inspired by any other platformers?
Surkov: As always, our main inspirations remain classic platformers! We tried to collect only some elements from them.
For example Metroid with its wonderful atmosphere, especially the Metroid Fusion series. Beautiful locations – we love it. Good old Mega Man – simple controls and wonderful platforming. And we tried to transfer the cuteness of characters and monsters from our favorite Hollow Knight. We didn’t forget about Half-life with its intricate corridors and amazing weapons like the Grav-gun!
Q: Are there any Easter eggs from Space Expedition in Genopanic?
Surkov: There definitely will be. And have you found one in Space Expedition?
Q: While the art style looks cute, Genopanic seems to deal with more eerie themes like collecting mutant lab experiments. Were there any challenges combining these styles?
Surkov: It seems like we managed to create something that resembles a “scary-cute” sci-fi adventure. The mutants in the game are quite cute, but don’t let their appearance fool you. They are ready to attack at any moment! Everything worked out smoothly. We found our “flow” and you can enjoy it while going through the game.
Q: Which mutant should players look out for the most?
Surkov: The mutants in the game are not so much dangerous as cute. We have unique monsters for each biome, and they each have their own “cute” features. However, there really is something more dangerous on the station. But we won’t spoil it!
Q: Players will be accompanied by a friendly AI pup named LAIK and the ship’s troublemaker cat AI, VOLGA. How do these characters contrast with each other?
Surkov: Each has its own unique internal software. LAIK is your PERSONAL friendly electronic assistant, while VOL.GA is the (VOLUMETRIC GENERAL ASSIST) Chief Supervisor, a demanding and strict boss for the SIMBIRSK station staff. She personally manages everything here.
Q: Can you describe any differences between the main character’s relationship with LAIK and VOLGA?
Surkov: LAIK will help and guide the player, sharing emotions from what’s going on around him, while for VOLGA the main character is an uncontrollable and unruly object on the station. You will have to try your best to gain her trust. You might even succeed in melting her electronic heart, in a way.
Q: How does the music and sound effects impact the gameplay experience?
Surkov: Music and sounds are literally half of the game. In Genopanic we’ve created motifs of an open, large, denied, abandoned planet with confined and pressurized walled rooms with traps and monsters inside the station. You can hear the scraping of crumbling compartments, the creaking and rustling of local flora and fauna, the splashing of water, the crackling of ice, the heat of hatching and more. All of this makes a big difference in immersion and atmosphere, and Volga also has its own funny electronic-sounding voice.
As we have already mentioned, we have a cool sound designer on our team, and he has a lot to say.
Evgeny Balaev, Sound Designer: From the very beginning, I was faced with the challenge of making the sound atmospheric, scary but cute. Since the game is drawn in pixel art, I decided to play on nostalgia too and write music for the game using old-school sounding synthesizers. The mood I chose was melancholic and aloof, probably like how a cosmonaut on a distant planetoid would feel. In addition to the music, a constant element in the game is a layer of background noise, which becomes more noticeable if the player turns off the music in the menu.
In this layer, there are various mysterious and scary samples. The levels are dotted with scrimmers, which always burst in suddenly. To make the characters sound cute, we often personally participate in their voicing and put not only our soul but also our voice into the game. For example, our artist voiced the zombie and I voiced Toxie. The artist did it so well that the samples went into the game practically unprocessed, but in my case, I needed the magic of sound design.
Q: Is there anything we didn’t talk about that you’d like to discuss?
Surkov: Yes, we’re full of ideas and possibilities, and we’re looking forward to showing you what we’re working on. However, we want to make your experience of playing the game more enjoyable. So it’s possible we’ll postpone the release for a while to fix some gameplay issues and probably add what we still have in the pipeline. We are also planning a closed BETA test for our fans. Stay tuned for our updates and get ready for an amazing “scary-cute” adventure in the world of Genopanic!
[END]Genopanic is set to release sometime in 2023.
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